Ernage

consult the map of Ernage  

Population

1,060

Surface area

825 ha
 

How it got its name

Ernage is a derivation of Asnatgia from the Latinization of a Germanic collective noun derived from ast, which means a branch or cultivated ground.

Inhabitants

Ernageois(e)

Whereabouts

Ernage stands on uplands with loamy heavy soils that are naturally well-drained.
This fertile land is suitable for growing cereals and sugar beet.
Ernage's brooklets connect it to the Escaut basin.
Certain surface runoffs from land to the east of locality belong to the Meuse basin.
The altitude in Ernage varies between 148 m and 168.75 m.
Accessible by the N4 Brussels -Namur highway, the Jodoigne-Gembloux public transport line number 25

• History

The first reference to Ernage is recorded in the charter the king of the Germans, Otton 1, granted to Gembloux's Benedictine abbey in 946. This specified that the knight Wicbertus, the future St. Guibert, granted to the monastery he founded his personal property in the Ernage estate, all except a demi-manse which he granted to his sister Reynuilde. No-one knows for certain the exact location of this late medieval farm.
During the Ancien Regime, Ernage was part of the region of Gembloux officially established as an earldom during the 16th century. Hence the village's history is broadly identified with that of Gembloux.
When the former Austrian Netherlands was annexed to France, in 1795, Ernage became a municipality of the canton of Gembloux in the department of Sambre -et -Meuse.
On 14 and 15 May 1940, Ernage, in common with Gembloux, found itself in the midst of the Dyle Manoeuvre, where the 1st French Army fought against two armoured divisions of the 16th Germany Army Corps. The Brussels-Namur railway line was the only obstacle likely to break the momentum of the German armoured vehicles.
On 1 January 1965, Ernage lost its status as an independent municipality and became attached to Gembloux.

• A must-see

St. Barthélemy Parish church dates back to the last quarter of the 18th century in the case of three rows of classic-style naves, while the other rows and the choir were built in the same style in 1827. The western part the building has a shaly sandstone Roman tower.
Built in the 11th and 12th centuries on a square plan form, it comprises three storeys. Under a 1905 oculus window with key blocks is a bluestone porch surmounted by a straight lintel created no earlier than the 19th century.
On the southern tip of the village, the Sart-Ernage farm forms a quadrilateral deep in the countryside, which belonged to Gembloux abbey under the Ancien Regime
Most of the buildings were built in the 19th and 20th centuries. 18th century outbuildings, including a longitudinal bar whose southern door is combined with that of the porch, have nonetheless been retained.
The village's dynamic environment can be seen on this site : www.ernage.be